ARTICLES ABOUT DOWNSTATE BY DATE - PAGE 3

Three men, including an Illinois State Police trooper, lifted a 3,000-pound car on Monday to save a man's life, according to an ISP press release. During Monday's icy road conditions in a large portion of Illinois, several people became stranded after their cars fell into ditches next to the southbound lanes of Interstate 57 near Rantoul, Ill. As a group waited outside their trapped cars on the side of the road, the driver of a black 2007 Dodge...

The seven young Marines killed in a Nevada mortar accident this week were from towns scattered across the United States and encompassed a would-be chef and former athletes, with all but one veterans of the Afghanistan war. In one of the deadliest U.S. military training accidents in recent years, the Marines were killed on Monday when a 60mm mortar round exploded prematurely in its launching tube during a live-fire exercise. Eight other servicemembers were wounded, and the cause is still under investigation.

For the second time in his high school career, Lockport junior Brian Rossi found himself near the top of the medalist podium at last weekend's individual state wrestling meet in Champaign. But it wasn't enough. "He's disappointed," said Rossi's coach at Lockport, Josh Oster. "I told him to take some time off and rest up, but he's already talking about when he should start lifting for next year. "I know one thing, if he doesn't win it next year, it won't be for lack of trying.

The Southern Illinoisan reports: An explosion that leveled a building at a Caterpillar plant near Carbondale, Ill., has injured one. The blast happened around 8:30 a.m. in Carrier Mills, where mining equipment is serviced and repaired. The cause has not been determined. Get the full story: thesouthern.com

Plainfield East girls basketball coach Missy Mitidiero anticipated tryouts to include a few extra players in October. "We expected to have 22 kids try out, but we had 14 kids," Mitidiero said. "It was interesting to have so few. " But Mitidiero received a late addition - former Montini guard Nikia Edom. Edom, who played a role in Montini's run to three straight Class 3A championships, immediately went to work infusing the growing Plainfield East program with a higher level of competitiveness during tryouts.

When Illinois Democrats won control of redrawing the state's congressional districts, the charge was to maximize opportunities for their own while marginalizing Republicans who gained control of the Washington delegation in the election two years ago. But Democrats are finding that trying to rig district boundaries can only go so far, particularly given the idiosyncrasies of Downstate Illinois, where three districts are heavily in play. One involves a freshman tea party-backed GOP lawmaker and two others became open seats when the incumbents - one a Democrat and one a Republican - opted for retirement over re-election.

Efforts to clean up one of the largest industrial polluters in Illinois will be delayed until the end of the decade after a state panel voted Thursday to give the owner of a massive downstate power plant more time to slash its lung-damaging emissions. The Illinois Pollution Control Board unanimously granted St. Louis-based Ameren a five-year reprieve from cleaning up its plant in Newton, 200 miles south of Chicago. Faced with increased competition from natural gas plants that have driven electricity prices dramatically lower, the company argued that it cannot afford to upgrade the Newton facility, the largest of its five Illinois coal burners.

ThyssenKrupp North America is closing a business unit with a manufacturing facility in southern Illinois that employs 110 people. : A spokesman said that the closing will have no impact on the company's plan to establish its regional headquarters in Chicago. The Grandview, Mo.-based unit, ThyssenKrupp Access Corp., employs approximately 230 people. It has offices in Boston, New York City and Wilmington, N.C. and manufacturing facilities in Grandview and Roanoke, Ill. The layoffs are expected to be completed by December.

A 13-year-old Palatine boy died Sunday after falling from a rope swing into water the day before, officials said. He would have started 8th grade today. Ben Stepp was with other children swimming and playing in a pond at a family reunion Saturday in a rural area of downstate Dieterich, near Effingham, when the accident occurred, according to authorities. Ben was swinging from a rope into the pond when he slipped and landed on the edge of a small cliff, then dropped off the ledge into about eight feet into the water, Effingham County officials said.

A Missouri man who was aboard the Megabus that crashed in Illinois earlier this month is suing Megabus and the bus driver for failing to properly inspect maintain the vehicle, among other allegations. Michael Murphy of Jackson County, Mo., filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of himself and his minor daughter. The suit names Megabus USA, LLC., Coach Leasing Inc. and the driver, Preston Taylor, as defendants. According to the lawsuit, at about 1:22 p.m. Aug. 2, Taylor lost control of the Megabus heading south on Interstate 55, veered off the road into the median and slammed head-on into a concrete bridge support pillar near the Downstate city of Litchfield.